January 23rd, 2010 · News
Oh, hello. I know it has been a month since we last met, but the first 3 weeks of the new year have not been particularly fashion forward for me. What with the Snice (that’s snow+ice), cold weather, moving house, lots of stuff going on at my day job and this…
That’s right! I’m 12 weeks pregnant. The first trimester has been exhausting, which is partly m reason for not blogging lately. I think I’m going to start a new blog for all things baby and will keep this blog focused on my adventures in maternity clothing and what I would wear if I still had a waist line.
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Preppy Pearl Necklace: Courtesy of Accessorize ♥ Oversize Woven Vintage Clutch, Gold: Courtesy of Accessorize ♥ Navy Wool Shift Dress: Thrifted at Dublin Flea ♥ Red Tights: A|Wear ♥ Black Cardigan: Penneys ♥ Long Strand of Pearls: Super old, who knows ♥ Black Courts/Pumps: M&S ♥ Belt: Part of another dress found at Dublin Flea ♥
For a festive mince pie and mulled wine party I decided to break out my two favourite new items from Accessorize, the Oversize Woven Clutch and the preppy pearl necklace. I’ve been in the market for a gold clutch for well over a year, but am very picky. This bag is perfect and I probably would have bought it if I’d seen it first! And the necklace is too cute. I adore little bows and pearls and thought the navy shift would be a perfect match. Since it is the holidays, I added some ruby red tights and added a longer strand of pearls to give it a little more glam.
Tags:accessorize·accessorize.com·clutch·dublin flea·gold·navy·pearls·preppy·red
♥ Tea Time Pendant: Courtesy of Accessorize ♥ Button Up Stripe Dress: Thrifted Goodwill, Capel Street ♥ Blazer: Gap ♥ Skinny Black Patent Belt: Penneys ♥ Jeans: Wallace ♥ Black Ballet Flats: Rocket Dog, Office ♥ Slouchy Gold Bag: Aldo (DTX) ♥ Pink Wool Pashmina: Gift from MIL ♥ Black Earmuffs: Accessorize (Kildare Village Outlet) ♥
On Saturday morning we were up early for a quick trip to Kildare Village for some last minute Christmas shopping. This was my first trip out there, and I’d heard it was a posh outlet mall so I thought I’d attempt to dress the part. The outfit really centred around the cute tea cup and spoon necklace from Accessorize. Isn’t it adorable. The hubby has taught me the art of a good cup of tea and I love all the Accessorize pendants, so it really is the perfect necklace for me! To play up the classy ladies who lunch look, I wore my thrifty €1 pin stripe dress with a cropped blazer and soft pink pashmina. Nice outfit, but one essential item was missing…a coat! It’s very cold to shop outside in the snow without a coat or socks.
Now, it was only a quick trip to Kildare Village so I may need to take a visit during a comfortably temperatured time period to make a full assessment…but I was slightly underwhelmed. There are some great shops that are either missing or slightly cheaper than the high street (Cath Kitson, Levis) but some places were priced the same as the high street. Guess I just drive too hard a bargain. My only purchase for me was a pair of necessary black earmuffs for €7.50 from Accessorize (note: grey, white or brown were €25, same as the high street) because after all my Christmas shopping, I am…
(Po Lauren, get it?)
Tags:accessorize·accessorize.com·kildare village·pendnat·tea time necklace
♥ Circle Statement Necklace: Courtesy of Accessorize ♥ Blue Dress as Tunic: Tesco ♥ Black Cardigan: Dunnes ♥ Jeans: Wallace ♥ Boots: Jones ♥ Orange Resin Bangle: Aldo ♥
The first piece I had to test out from my Accessorize gift box was the amazing circle statement necklace. Holy cow this necklace is a show stopper. I’ve been wanting to buy a necklace like this for a while, but indecision plagues me all the time. This one is prefect and can easily dress up the simplest outfits. I pulled this together for a day at the office followed by a casual Christmas party. I thought the jewel tone blue dress brought out the orange and golds. You may remember the dress from here, I rolled it up at the waist to turn it into a shorter tunic over my now ubiquitous jeggings and really let the necklace be the centre of attention. Oh yeah, how do you like my new fringe?
Tags:accessorize·accessorize.com
Twas the week before Christmas
And all through the house
Every creature was stirring
Frantically clicking a mouse
No stockings were hung by the chimney with care
Simply because no chimney was there
While I longed to be tucked all snug in my bed
Loads of work was to be done instead
Just when I thought my Christmas spirit was zapped
I received a cute package that was even gift wrapped
I’d been asked a while ago through my blog chatter
To try out some products to see what would flatter
When the huge box arrived I was beaming with pride
Excited to see the treasures found inside
Squeals of delight were to be heard all around
Because the shiny, pretty things sure did astound
So I must extend thanks to the kind folks at Accessorize
For sending so many lovely things that certainly did surprise!
Last week, as you may have figured out, I received a rather large package from Accessorize. When they asked me if I’d like to sample some products last month, I kind of assumed I’d just get a hair clip and coin purse. But what I got was a treasure chest of goodies from one of my favourite shops that will certainly challenge Santa for awesomeness. Inside my rather large parcel, I found two big gift boxes with lots of goodies wrapped up in bright tissue paper. The folks at Accessorize must have gone to a lot of effort to prepare these blogger gifts, so thank you thank you thank you!
Now, before I show you what’s inside. I have to say a little bit about Accessorize (and no, none of this is prompted or sponsored). I really love this store (and the clothing version, Monsoon). When I first came across the pond in 2003, I fell in love and really missed it when I returned to the States. There really is no equivalent of quality, trendy, well priced accessories. Seriously, what else is there in the US? Claire’s? That place has nothing in Accessorize. Now that I’m back in Ireland, it is my first stop when I need a little pick me up (charm necklaces are cheaper than lunch) or something unique for a wedding (by far the most extensive collection of pretty clutches).
So here’s what I got!
Well American gals, your long winter is over. Accessorize is coming state side with some fab pieces from the SS10 collection to brighten you up. The range of collections is great, so there’s bound to be something for everyone and every occasion–from the city to the beach and everywhere in between. You can order all this and more from Accessorize.com
And of course I’ll be wearing a lot of the loot in the next few days!
Tags:accessorize·accessorize.com·costume jewelry·Handbags·jewelry·online shopping
♥ Navy Wool Peacaot: Bitten ♥ Grey Cowlneck Jumer: Penneys ♥ Jeggings: Dunnes ♥ Stripey Wellies: Joules ♥ Purple Knit Cap: Dunnes ♥ Squirrely Badge: Magpie ♥ Fingerless gloves: Who knows? ♥
Christmas at Farmleigh House is one of my favourite holiday traditions. Okay, so this is the first year we went, but I love Farmleigh House year round and I’m determined to make their Christmas market a tradition in the years to come. It was a pretty spontaneous trip, so I quickly got pulled on my jeggings and my comfy oversized cowlneck grey jumper, tied my hair up in pigtails and topped it all off with my peacoat from Bitten. I got his coat 3 years ago for $20. Definitely one of the best purchase I’ve made. We wandered around Phoenix Park near the Papal Cross (until I got scared by dogs) so I wore my favourite Joules wellies to run around in the wet grass.
Farmleigh is a real gem in the centre of Dublin. I love wandering around the gardens and the old rusty Victorian greenhouses, visiting the monthly food market and saying hello to the donkeys, horses and ducks that live there. The OPW host a lot of wonderful free events at Farmleigh, you should definitely check ‘em out! We tend to go a little crazy at the food market. Back when I was training for the Mini Marathon it was my little reward after running 5K to get a spring roll, salmon roll, crepe, potato cake, smoothie and cheese samples. Yeah, all in one go. This time we just had some hot cider and brought home this giant head of kale (€1!). The Christmas Market is open again this weekend and the Celtic Tenors will perform. Check it out to stock up on last minute Christmas goodies, including fresh poultry!
Merry Christmas!
Tags:christmas market·dublin christmas·farmleigh house·Joules·phoenix park·Wellies·wool peacoat. grey cowlneck jumper
I’ve been a bad blogger lately. Blame it on the Christmas season and being distracted by a new project that I’ll tell you about in the new year…it’s all a bit secret right now. But I can tell you that there are lots of new and exciting things in store for StylebyNumbers in 2010.
In the meantime I’ve got a few new style posts, product reviews, last minute Christmas wishlists, and more! Oh, and I have new fringe. Still not sure I’m adjusted to it yet.
I’m going to try to line up some posts while I’m away in Wicklow this Christmas, so stick around and keep an eye out for my first contest in Jan 2010.
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♥ Navy wool shift dress: Vintage, thrifted and found at Dublin Flea for €5 ♥ Black 3/4 length sleeve tshirt: Penneys ♥ Striped scarf: Vintage, belonged to my mom in college! ♥ Black knee-high boots: Jones ♥
I felt very mod in this little fitted shift dress, so I had to take my photos in front of my pop-art-ish dotty shower curtain. This amazing little navy wool dress with fitted side panels came to me via a very eager seller at the November Dublin Flea. I could not believe my luck that I walked away with this dress for only €5. I’ve been eyeing a similar dress at Perk Up Vintage for €89. I’ve had some terrible fashion faux pas lately thanks to the dark mornings and an inability to distinguish black from navy, so I decided to pair them on purpose. I wore a black 3/4 sleeve tshirt under the navy dress, along with black tights and black boots. To pull it all together, I tie my mom’s vintage scarf around my neck (with stripes of black, navy, bright blue, red and white). What do you think, the look is a little Flight Attendant-y, no?
And don’t forget, the Dublin Flea Christmas Market is Dec 20!
Tags:dublin flea·navy·vintage·vintage scarf·wool shift dress
♥ Cropped black and cream striped cardigan: H&M, Thrifted from Enable Ireland ♥ Favourite LBJerseyDress: Old Navy ♥ Black braided belt: Dunnes ♥ Black leather boots: Jones ♥ Plus lots of ridiculous layers underneath ♥
This outfit wasn’t quite the showstopper I expected it to be, but I liked it enough to post. I think I’ll really love this cardigan during my annual return to nautical style around May of each year (seriously, it’s like clockwork and the only way to get me out of the phase is to take me on a boat!) I found the sweater at Enable Ireland for €4 on the same trip that produced my fiesta dress and treasure box. It’s cropped, boxy and a very heavy knit. I like it, but am having trouble styling it just right. I tried it on with my American Apparel jersey skirt and it looked really cute (a la Alexa Chung) but not work appropriate. I’ll keep remixing till I get it right.
Edit: After writing that I thought this sweater looked like Alexa Chung, I decided to see if she ever actually did wear it…and wouldn’t you know it, she has. I also found some great style inspirations from All This Happiness who totally kills this sweater as well as ton of other lovely vintagey looks. Looking through her blog made me want to drink ice tea (or Pimms) out in a sunny field, a nice change of pace from Dublin!
(Alexa in my sweater via Allthishappiness)
Tags:alexa chung·black and white·enable ireland shop·H&M cropeed stripped sweater·thrift shopping
December 1st, 2009 · Real Style
♥ Black & White/Might as well be grey Pinafore: Blendshe Thifted, An Taisce Swap Shop ♥ Black Cardigan: Penneys ♥ Black & White striped Longsleve Tee: H&M ♥ Grey Boots: New Look ♥ Yellow Satchel: Cambridge Satchel Company ♥
I needed an easy and warm outfit for Sunday shopping at Dublin Flea. When I’m thrift shopping, I try to wear tights and something that’s easy to try things over so that I’m not bothered with changing rooms. (Most thrift shops are not terribly private places–Dublin flea has a changing room so I opted for an easy on, easy off number)
I wasn’t sure if the unstructured pleated pinafore dress would really work (I got it at the An Taisce sale without trying it on), but I really like it. It’s cute and fits well and will be perfect for those days when you just don’t feel like holding that tummy in. I am a sucker for pockets and big buttons, and this dress has both! It was raining and freezing so I layered it up with thick wool tights, a long sleeve t-shirt and a long cardigan that also helped tone down the looseness of the dress. Not sure if this outfit is ‘mature’ enough for work, but it will probably be a weekend staple. Oh! And I got lots of complements on my bag, always happy to spread the Cambridge Satchel Company love.
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